Parx Casino sued for firing pregnant cocktail servers

Two women who formerly worked as cocktail servers at a suburban Philadelphia casino

have filed a federal discrimination lawsuit against the gaming establishment, claiming they were transferred out of their positions once their uniforms began to get tight on them due to pregnancy.

Bensalem, Pa.-based Parx Casino was named as a defendant in a civil action filed July 5 at the federal court in Philadelphia by local attorney Sidney L. Gold.

The lawsuit claims that the plaintiffs, who both became pregnant while under the defendant’s employ, were told they would have to switch positions in order to remain employed at Parx.

The plaintiffs are 31-year-old Christina Aicher of Bensalem and 27-year-old Alycia Campiglia of Clementon, N.J.

According to the complaint, Campiglia, who was hired by the casino in January 2007 and was terminated in late February 2009, worked as a cocktail server and at all times maintained a satisfactory job performance rating.

In December 2008, after learning she was carrying a baby, Campiglia was informed by the casino’s food and beverage manager that if she wanted to continue her employment, Campiglia would have to transfer to a concession stand position, a transfer that would be considered a demotion. Campiglia met with a human resources manager the following month during which the plaintiff was informed it was the casino’s policy to transfer pregnant cocktail servers once their uniforms no longer fit and that management would not, “under any circumstances,” accept maternity uniforms, the lawsuit states.

The suit goes on to say that after the meeting, Campiglia called the casino’s marketing director to further inquire about the policy, and the plaintiff was “angrily condemned,” and was told that Parx did not have to offer the woman “anything in this economy.”

Campiglia responded by informing the marketing director that these actions were discriminatory on the basis of her sex and pregnancy; the plaintiff was removed from her position as a cocktail waitress later that month. She was officially fired from the casino in late February 2009.

Aicher’s complaint reads similarly. The co-plaintiff, who worked for Parx from November 2007 until late January 2009, was also informed that she could only work as a cocktail server until she began to show and her uniform would no longer fit, according to the lawsuit.

She, too, was told “a maternity uniform will not happen!”

On Dec. 24, 2008, Aicher was removed from her cocktail waitress position; she was placed on unpaid leave until her firing on Jan. 25, 2009, the suit states.